for Matte black personal I would plasti dip them. PC is more permanent and much harder to go back to stock should you change your mind. "Should have left them stock"

That said, not bad.

 

The rims look great nice change.

 

Plastidip is the car version of body glitter.

Yeah it'll make your cleavage sparkle but it's finicky and temporary and leaves evidence of your existence everywhere you go.

Powdercoated wheels look awesome. thumbs up!

 

If I can't find black wheels that I like in the diameter I want I will be powdercoating when I need tires. For now there's body glitter.. I mean plasti dip on them.

 

Looks good. Mine are being powdercoated "card black" (satin) this weekend.

 

At least he didn't go with blue...Right?

 

in you color scheme yours should actually be red.

...I think,...or is that just for under the hood.

 

As someone who dealt with heat treating


Heating Aluminum to the required 400 degrees constant for prolonged time, does in fact alter the makeup of the metals. It can, in some cases, cause the aluminum to become more brittle and prone to cracking and breaking (have seen it happen). Not to say that this will happen. but the only thing I PC are steel items.

 

I'm calling BS on this. Without knowing the alloy being used or the annealing temp of said alloy there is no way you can make a statement like this and be correct.

Is it possible? Yes. Without knowing the exact composition, it's hard to say one way or another. I've heard of this before, but I've heard plenty of other car related tales that were also neither proved or disproved.

I'm no metallurgist but I do have plenty of experience with induction heat treating and tempering of a multitude of cast and forged materials. On a street car I doubt if there'd be any ill effect 400 for a half hour or so.

Would I want to throw some mega$$$ forged race wheels in an oven that's hotter for longer? Probably not.

 

Exactly. It is impossible to declaratively say it will happen in all cases

However, some flow formed wheels have had issues before with being brittle after powdercoating. I personally know two people with wheels who ran them for years on autocross cars, then powder coated them, and started developing hairline fractures that leaked air a few months later.

Sure, its anecdotal, but it can happen. If you look online there are many cases of major failures being attributed to the process.

This is the internet, if you take one person's word as gospel, you deserve darwin anyways. Do your research on it, and make your own decision based on it.

 

I have zero reservations about powdercoating cast wheels for the OB. My only concern comes when you're talking forged wheels and tracked vehicles, my SER for example.

There's certainly a basis for the argument but use an experienced powdercoater and call it a day. There are plenty of people out there who have cracked and/or broken un coated wheels as well. **** I've cracked 2 painted forged wheels on my SER.